A tale of Tupac and the crazy Ragin’ Cajuns

COLLEGE STATION — And here I thought all along Jake Delhomme and Brandon Stokley had the most to do with Texas A&M losing at Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) 14 years ago this week.

Turns out there was one more key player in the whole deal: rapper Tupac Shakur.

According to former A&M and NFL receiver Chris Cole, anyway. Cole said the scene in the Aggies’ locker room was one of despair on Sept. 14, 1996, before A&M took on the Ragin’ Cajuns in Lafayette, La., in what would become a 29-22 loss.

Shakur, 25, had died the evening before, the result of four gunshots wounds suffered in an ambush on a Las Vegas street following a Mike Tyson fight.

“The brothers were crying in the locker room,” Cole recalled. “I remember guys like Albert Connell crying. Everybody was so sad. Music kind of affects the psyche in such a way.”

I asked Cole, who’s returned to A&M to earn his degree, about it this offseason after a former student, Noah Worley, had e-mailed me some years ago. Worley wrote that Cole had told him as much when the two happened to sit next to each other on a plane. Allow Cole to further explain concerning the Tupac Influence …

“Music is a big part of black culture,” Cole said. “The death of Tupac was like the death of your homeboy. (His music) was about getting out of the ghetto and getting out of the hood, and for us, football was going to be a way to make a better life for our families. It was a big part of how we connected. His death had a huge effect on the entire nation.

“When he died, a part of us died, too. It’s why we lost. (Now I) cry to think that Tupac had that kind of an effect on that game.”

I had to ask: So the Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t care about Tupac?

“They were really pumped up to play us at their place,” Cole countered. “Look, they were a dangerous football team.”

I’d agree with that. No one outside of Lafayette knew who Jake Delhomme and Brandon Stokley were at that time, but Delhomme would lead the Carolina Panthers to the 2004 Super Bowl, and Stokley has won a couple of Super Bowl rings over a distinguished NFL career. Both are still in the league.

I remember that night in Lafayette well. Colleague Larry Bowen and I were eating pancakes in a downtown restaurant about 1 a.m. or so and the goalposts came marching by (with a little help from some crazed fans). Those Cajuns know how to party.